Back when this title was orginally released, Marc-Olivier did an exhaustive comparison between it and the RoIO known as 'At Dawn v4.00'. He found neither entity to be superior to the other. Each one had its strong points in different areas and he suggested an amalgamation of the two.

A little later, we also learned that the speed used for Scream Thy Last Scream and Vegetable Man were incorrect.

Another flaw existed with the 1967 sessions. These were originally mono broadcasts. But due to 'old age' of the tapes, the original BBC6769 Harvested release had some channel balance problems.

All this, and more, has been fixed on the 'rev A' release. Here's a track-by-track breakdown...

Track 01 - FlamingOur original release was a little hissy. The 'At Dawn' version had been equalized to eliminate the hiss, but this was overdone and resulted in a 'bassy' track. I've reequalized our original track. The rev A version is not hissy and not bassy either. The balance has been recentered to mono too.

Track 02 - ScarecrowThe balance has been recentered to mono.

Track 03 - Matilda MotherThe 'At Dawn' version was slightly clearer than our original. This rev A release uses the 'At Dawn' version with the balance recentered to mono.Ron also reFrankentooned the first note. In addition, the tray artwork has been updated to give the correct spelling of 'Matilda'.

Track 04 - The GnomeAgain, the 'At Dawn' version is used here as it had slightly better SQ. We used our version to restore the start of the song that was missing on 'At Dawn'. The balance was recentered to mono.

Track 05 - Pow R Toc HThe balance was recentered to mono.

Track 06 - Vegetable ManThe 'At Dawn' version is used here. And the balance was recentered. But that's not all...This is the biggest change on this release. The speed has been significantly slowed down.

The recent Omnibus special on Syd Barrett and the Pink Floyd included some snippets of Vegetable Man. The RoIO used for this BBC show came direct from the BBC Archives. As such, we feel we may have found a valid speed reference. The speed of Vegetable Man on our rev A release matches that used in the Omnibus special. This is a lot slower than you're probably used to hearing for this song. But, it is very nice and natural. Enjoy!

Lineage: Original Harvested SHN-files --> FLAC level 8 --> MWP(see protocol file for conversion details)The original SHN file track 12 (Massed Gadgets Of Hercules) has a sector boundary error, that has been fixed for this release, see the protocol file for details.

Notes: Radio show performances stretching from the time with Syd Barrett to the inclusion of David Gilmour. As decribed in the Wikipedia article about 'A Saucerful of Secrets' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Saucerful_of_Secrets): ... Due to Syd Barrett's declining mental state, this would be the last Pink Floyd album that he would work on. During its difficult recording sessions, Barrett became increasingly unstable and in January of 1968, David Gilmour was brought in. Barrett was finally removed from the band by early March, leaving this new incarnation of Pink Floyd to finish the album. As a result, A Saucerful of Secrets is the only non-compilation Pink Floyd album on which all five band members appear, with Gilmour appearing on four songs (Let There Be More Light, Corporal Clegg, A Saucerful of Secrets, and See-Saw) and Barrett on three (Remember a Day, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Jugband Blues). As well as 'Jugband Blues', the album was to include 'Vegetable Man,' another Syd Barrett song. However, the band believed 'Vegetable Man,' with its autobiographical lyrics, was unsuitable for inclusion and so it was left off the album. The song was to appear on a single as the b-side to another unreleased track, 'Scream Thy Last Scream'. Two additional Syd Barrett songs, 'In The Beechwoods' and 'No Title' were also recorded early in the sessions for the album.

The context of these BBC sessions (quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_%28radio_show%29): Top Gear was originally a short-lived pop music show on the BBC Light Programme in the mid-1960s. It was one of the Corporation's few attempts to compete with the pirate radio stations and Radio Luxembourg, who had attracted large audiences of young British pop music listeners in the absence of an 'official' alternative. This was made explicit in the show's title, which evoked the 1960s fascination with fast cars, jet planes and high-speed travel, but also the use of 'gear' to describe fashionable Carnaby Street clothes and the 1960s Liverpool term 'fab gear', popularised by the Beatles as an expression of approval. The programme comprised a mixture of records and live sessions, was introduced by Brian Matthew, and featured many popular guests such as The Beatles, The Who, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks and Manfred Mann.

It was revived, and evolved into a 'progressive' music show, in the early years of BBC Radio 1 (from 1967 into the 1970s), with the same format of records and specially recorded sessions. It was hosted variously by Tommy Vance, Pete Drummond and, most notably, John Peel, who, with the help of sympathetic producers Bernie Andrews and John Walters, turned it into an award-winning show, while retaining the emphasis on new music. In 1971 the programme merged with the Sounds of the Seventies strand, broadcast on FM. It was still introduced by Peel, and moved from its weekend slot to two evenings a week.

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/biography/1960s/1967_Part_Two/John's first show for BBC Radio 1 was called Top Gear, which he co-presented with former Radio London DJ Pete Drummond. It went to air at 2pm on Sunday October 1st, 1967, and it promised sessions with some of the hottest names in the music business. John Peel got the job by the skin of his teeth as BBC bigwigs thought he was too much of a loose cannon. But Top Gear producer, and BBC veteran of 10 years, Bernie Andrews, had his eye on Peel and demanded that he present the show. Andrews became John's advocate, convincing BBC bosses to give John the opportunity to stay at the station - albeit on a six-week contract - even though his style was at odds with the 'stuffy establishmentarianism' of the BBC.

Immediately, John and Bernie started to book sessions from artists John thought worthy of recognition. The Peel Sessions on Top Gear attracted the likes of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Captain Beefheart and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

The Peel sessions, now as famous as the man himself, were born.

John adopted Top Gear as his own programme, complete with solo billing which came with new-found freedom to play whatever he liked, whenever he liked.

FLAC fingerprints:(use these to check file integrity, and also if you are unsure whether you already have the same files or not - the prints remain the same even if file names and tags are edited, so if you have the same files, the fingerprints will match)